page_title: German occupation of Czechoslovakia
section_title: Demands for Sudeten autonomy
hierarchical_section_title: German occupation of Czechoslovakia / Demands for Sudeten autonomy
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs Zentralbild Das Münchner Abkommen vom 29.9.1938. Das am 29.9.1938 in München zwischen dem britischen Ministerpräsidenten Neville Chamberlain, dem französischen Ministerpräsidenten Edouard Daladier, dem italienischen Staatschef Benito Mussolini und Adolf Hitler geschlossene Abkommen ermächtigte das faschistische Deutschland zur Annexion tschechoslowakischen Gebietes. UBz: von links: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, und der italienische Außenminister Graf Galeazzo Ciano. Im Hintergrund v.l.n.r. Unbekannter (wahrscheinlich ein brite Diplomat), Fromageot, Ribbentrop, Weizsäcker, Leger alias Saint-John Perse. 12 766-38 [Scherl Bilderdienst] Abgebildete Personen: Neville Chamberlain, Premierminister, Großbritannien Graf Galeazzo Ciano, Außenminister, Italien (GND 119178362) Édouard Daladier, Ministerpräsident, Vorsitzender Sozialistische Partei, Frankreich Henri Fromageot, Diplomat, Frankreich Adolf Hitler, Reichskanzler, Deutschland Alexis Leger alias Saint-John Perse, Generalsekretär des Aussenministeriums, auch Dichter, Schriftsteller und Nobelpreisträger für Literatur, Frankreich Benito Mussolini, Ministerpräsident, Regierungschef, Chef des Faschistischen Großrates, Italien Joachim von Ribbentrop, deutscher Außenminister Freiherr Ernst von Weizsäcker, Diplomat, Staatssekretär im Auswärtigen Amt, SS-Führer, Deutschland Information added by Wikimedia users.Русский: После подписаний Мюнхенских соглашений 1938 года. Слева направо: Чемберлен, Даладье, Гитлер, Муссолини, Чиано.
context_page_description: The German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the German annexation of Sudetenland in 1938, continued with the March 1939 invasion of the Czech lands and creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and by the end of 1944 extended to all parts of the former Czechoslovakia.
  Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany in March 1938, the conquest and breakup of Czechoslovakia became Hitler's next ambition, which he obtained with the Munich Agreement in September 1938. Adolf Hitler justified the invasion by the purported suffering of the ethnic Germans living in these regions. The seizure of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany was detrimental to the future defense of Czechslovakia as the extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications were also located in the same area. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany that began on 1 October 1938 left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation. Moreover, a small northeastern part of the borderland region known as Zaolzie was occupied and annexed to Poland ostensibly to "protect" the local ethnic Polish community and as a result of previous territorial claims.
context_section_description: Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein offered the Sudeten German Party (SdP) as the agent for Hitler's campaign. Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938, where he was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government led by president Edvard Beneš. On 24 April, the SdP issued the Karlsbader Programm, demanding autonomy for the Sudetenland and the freedom to profess National Socialist ideology. If Henlein's demands were granted, the Sudetenland would then be able to align itself with Nazi Germany.
  I am asking neither that Germany be allowed to oppress three and a half million Frenchmen, nor am I asking that three and a half million Englishmen be placed at our mercy. Rather I am simply demanding that the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia cease and that the inalienable right to self-determination take its place.
  — Adolf Hitler's speech at the NSDAP Congress 1938
caption: From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany
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